Home Wares, Buenos Aires

Nearly everything (and everyone) is beautiful in Buenos Aires, so it's natural that you'd want to take a slice of that eye candy home. Though there are deals to be had on clothing, the truly underrated shopping opportunity in Buenos Aires is for home design items. A sophisticated, good-value-for-money scene with scores of cutting-edge boutiques can be found along the tree-lined lanes of Palermo Soho. Our favorites? Picnic (pictured), where you can score Pop art pillows, and bold, graphic wallpaper. Calma Chicha gives a contemporary treatment to Argentine classics—colorfully dyed cowhide rugs, monotone maté gourds—and mixes in quirky accessories such as cowboy boot mugs, tin whistles, and mod sock puppets. Local chain Artentino lends a South American touch to Scandinavian-style design with great deals on a rainbow of stainless steel cups and saucers, Pop art baby mobiles, and other home accessories you never knew you had to have (frog toothbrush holders?). And for last-minute gifts, pick up a kaleidoscope of handcrafted soaps with quirky Spanish sayings at Sabater Hnos. You could easily buy enough to fill up a second home (anyone know a good Argentine realtor?).

Picnic
6080 Nicaragua
Tel: 54 11 5197 5115

Sabater Hnos
1821 Gurruchaga
Tel: 54 11 4833 3004

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